Relocation Issues – People, Pitfalls & Risks | 2 Aug 2011

Long standing research into the impact of life events on our well being, reveals that being relocated can rank alongside divorce and bereavement in terms of increasing stress.

For corporations or new business enterprises needing to relocate employees to Australia – and often their families – the whole process can be very time consuming and costly if handled internally.

One of the great Mantra’s of management gurus is “Concentrate on your core business”. If your core business is administering benefits systems in a given area then your HR department’s core business is recruiting and keeping staff that will fulfil this remit. They will have as much knowledge of relocation issues as the Accounts Department will have about developing a website.

Pitfalls & Risks

The traditional solution of HR Departments relocating staff was to throw money at the employees but the relocation industry has proved that resources are better spent on specialist relocation support.

The biggest fundamental failure for any relocation is whether the individual or family have settled successfully into their new place.

“The majority of failed relocations are down to the fact that the family have not been provided for sufficiently at the start of the process and moreover that a partner can very quickly feel socially isolated following a move away from a group of friends and the wider family” says Linda Pendlebury, Managing Director of Life Relocation.

Australia has significant growth currently in most industries, and an increasing shortage of skilled labour.  The recruitment industry are providing a valuable support to the corporations in attracting new employees, although a high price tag comes with that support. Yet on the flip side, some corporations are still overlooking one of the most fundamental resources through a relocation specialist, like Life Relocation. The single most compelling reason for using specialists in relocating is to reduce the stress on the individual or family. This is not simply an altruistic gesture on the part of the employer. It makes commercial sense to protect the greatest resource to the organisation; the employee.

Relocation Solution

In order to mitigate the worse impact of relocation for the individual or family, there are a number of key points which can help to smooth the process significantly with the help of a relocation specialist

• Getting the whole family involved in the process from the very start; this will alleviate any fears
• Involving the whole family in any decision making; this often helps the HR Department or senior management identify any families for whom the move absolutely will not work
• Using a relocation specialist as the first point of contact for the family throughout the relocation process will provide familiarity and will reduce anxieties and stresses
• Accurate timescales within which each part of the process is clearly organised. This also helps to reduce uncertainty around the move
• Costs savings are a significant benefit to the corporation or individual using the resources of a relocation specialist that will be able to provide the following: 
  • Efficiency gains by the corporation by focusing on core functions
  • Benchmarking services such as temporary accommodation, removal fees
  • Reduction of high cost arrival costs for temporary accommodation as home/school searches will be undertaken more or less immediately for the individual/family following pre-arrival discussions to determine needs.
• Smoothing out the arrival process for home and school searches relieves the individual or family of the stress and anxieties that would often burden them of understanding a new city and dealing with an alien real estate market.
• Assisting the individual/family adapt to new cultures and customs through cross cultural guidance assists with engagement more efficiently and alleviates uncomfortable issues with etiquette on a business and social level
• Settling in support for the partner/family helps build new networks socially that is vital for the trailing partner/family who very quickly feels isolated following a move away from a group of friends/family.
• Some relocation companies will often bring in specialist individuals/family counsellors to try and get issues solved before they become a problem.
• HR Departments are generally able to troubleshoot problems across to the relocation specialists, particularly if they are using the services to attract new employees